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Chassis cleaning [message #8984] Tue, 30 October 2007 12:06   wgjackson Messages: 2 Registered: October 2007 Junior Member Hi Guys - I'm restoring a 1967 Frank head. I've discharged the caps so that I can safely begin the project. The inside of the chassis is pretty grimy with a lot of caked on, baked on dirt. I could probably disassemble the entire amp, but just wondered if there were any quicker ways to accomplish chassis cleaning. Vacuuming won't be able to remove 40 years of gunk. Any hints? Thanks, Bill in MPLS Report message to a moderator

Re: Chassis cleaning [message #8985 is a reply to message #8984] Tue, 30 October 2007 14:15 chicagobill Messages: 2005 Registered: April 2003 Senior Member Hey Bill, welcome to the board! If there is a lot of cigarette smoke and kitchen grease built up in there, you'll need a spray cleaner like Fantastik or Formula 409. I spray some on a rag and then start wiping out the larger surfaces. Then I'll use moistened Q-Tips to get into the tiny areas. Don't worry too much about getting the boards wet, as long as you dry them out before you power the amp back up. If you need to remove or loosen any of the boards to get at different areas, I'd recommend taking a few photos of the chassis before you start in case any wires should come loose or get un-hooked while you're working. At least on a Frank head, you don't need to remove all of the pots to get the boards loose. The worst case I've ever cleaned, was a 200B head that was flood damaged. There was 1/4" of mud dried in the bottom! I ended up removing all of the electronics and then I power washed the chassis to get the mud out. Hope this helps, Bill Report message to a moderator

Re: Chassis cleaning [message #8986 is a reply to message #8984] Wed, 31 October 2007 12:37   wgjackson Messages: 2 Registered: October 2007 Junior Member Thanks Bill - I wasn't sure if a spray cleaner would affect the board components or not. It's good to know that they can withstand a little moisture The thought of power washing did cross my mind, but only if I did a complete teardown. Everything appears to be still original on the inside. I am changing the power cord to 3-wire to improve the grounding. Except for some minor hiss in the treble circuit (probably normal), the amp still sounds great, too. Great info and indexing on the board postings. I'm very thankful for your input and look forward to learning more about these amps. Bill in MPLS Report message to a moderator

Re: Chassis cleaning [message #8987 is a reply to message #8984] Thu, 01 November 2007 12:56   stevem Messages: 4739 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY Senior Member On some I`ve done that looked like they came from a tar pit inside, I found real hot dish wash soapy water and a good long stiff bristle artist brush worked great, then I used a empty spray bottle with hot water to wash everything off while giving me good control to where I aim it. being carefull not to get stuff into the pots or up into the power transformer thru the holes that the wire exti thru. Hot clorx spray cleaner works killer also, but with the vapors you need to do it out side. Report message to a moderator

Re: Chassis cleaning [message #9029 is a reply to message #8984] Tue, 27 November 2007 20:42   ellum68 Messages: 71 Registered: November 2007 Location: Sioux City, IA Member Naptha, aka lighter fluid, works fantastic for removing crud. I actually picked that up from a Dan Erlewine book about guitar repair. He advised using it to clean areas of guitars with especially nasty crud. Report message to a moderator

Re: Chassis cleaning [message #9031 is a reply to message #8984] Wed, 28 November 2007 06:31   stevem Messages: 4739 Registered: June 2004 Location: NY Senior Member Yes, but just watch out for the vapors with naptha, they are quite deadly! Report message to a moderator

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